The Sheikh with
Grandeur
and Manifestation of
Origin,
Commended Praiseworthy and Trustworthy, His Holiness Sheikh
Mahmoud resident of Deccan. According to Abdul Jabar Hendi’s citation in
the book “Tadhkirat
ul-Ouliya of Deccan”
narrated from Anwar-ul-Akhyar, the birth place and origin home
town of His Holiness
was Najaf Ashraf
and the ancestors of His Holiness were custodians of that
angels-guarded threshold.

His Holiness as a result of the fate of Almighty God and vicissitudes of
time departed for India from his original home country and after
sightseeing and excursion in various parts of that country finally
entered the town of Bidar Deccan which was the residence place of His
Holiness Shams-e-din Husseini - the Qutb of the Nimatullahi Spiritual
Order. And since he observed that the news of spiritual instruction and
guidance and the fame of manifestation of generosities of his sublime
spiritual guardianship reaching every alley and town in the entire
Deccan, the desire to meet the perfect spiritual guide flared in his
heart and one day with his companions and kinfolks went to see His
Holiness the Sheikh and in that first meeting was fascinated by his
divine visage and luminous face; extended his pleading hand and devotion
towards His Holiness, and repented, and had the honor of obtaining
spiritual instructions. And fastened his heart to reside and retreat in
the same region as His Holiness, and till three full years did not seek
to go far from the presence of his sublime spiritual guide and during
that period knocked the door of his heart with full endeavor till
finally reached the intention and became perfect in spiritual journey
and ability to guide and instruct the people manifested in his outward
appearance and received the position of caliphate and the permission to
sit on the throne of guidance from His Holiness Shams-e-din. After that,
from the honorable Sheikh was ordered to depart to Hyderabad.

His Holiness illuminated that province with the light of his divine
beauty during the end of the monarchy of Sultan Abdullah Qutb the king
of Hyderabad and resided on the top of a hill which at present is famed
as "Shah Mahmoud Hill" and occupied himself with the worship of God the
Almighty. His Holiness sometimes would be intoxicated by the divine
cognition wine and limpid love in such a way that for some time would be
in a state of faint and coma. After recovery from one of these states,
said: my grave will be in this same place and on the top of this same
hill and the hour of death will be in this place. And after sometime on
top of the same hill laid the foundation of a khaneghah and started
building with full diligence and endeavor and for more progress of work
would give the hired workers and labors more and more wages, than their
expectations.

Perchance during those days Sultan Abolhassan Tana Shah the ruler of
Deccan at that time was occupied in building a palace for himself and
building a dome on the shrine for his spiritual guide called Shah Raju
and most labors were busy working on both construction and less labors
could be found and the construction of the khaneghah of Sheikh Mahmoud
was slowly progressing, therefore, His Holiness Sheikh doubled the wages
of the labors. For this reason the workers came towards the khaneghah of
Hazrat-e-Sheikh and the progress of the construction of Abolhassan Shah
was coming to a stop. Regarding this matter the King was furious, ordered
that all the workers should be brought to the construction site of the
king with force. The workers during the day were taken to the
construction site of the king with compulsion, but with greed to get
more wages they would go to the khaneghah at nights and would work and
would receive double wages of the usual day’s wages. However, night work
and being awake would make them tired and exhausted and during the day
time at the construction site of the king they would work with slackness
and negligence, by this visage Tana Shah was severely enraged and
planned to find a way to cease construction work of the khaneghah. Since
construction work of the khaneghah at night necessitated lamps and
lanterns and needed oil as fuel, therefore Tana Shah decreed that no oil
manufacturer and oil sellers has the right to sell oil to relatives and
workers of Hazrat Sheikh Mahmoud and that resulted the work of the
khaneghah to be suspended. After hearing this case Hazrat Sheikh felt
disgusted and said: instead of oil, use water from the well of the
khaneghah in the lanterns and torches to kindle them, and from the
generosity of His Holiness, water of the well was burnt in place of oil
and the workers would continue their work in lighted environment. And
His Holiness cursed Tana Shah and said: the construction of this
khaneghah will be completed with the help of God, but the palace of Tana
Shah and the dome of Shah Raju will remain incomplete and Tana Shah will
be defeated and would lose his monarchy in the near future. In the end,
likewise whatever he had said came true and Alamgir Shah attached and
invaded Tana Shah in the year 1097 Hijri (1686 AD), and surrounded him
for 10 months in his capital: Golgondeh and in the year 1098 Hijri (1687
AD) conquered Golgondeh and enslaved Tana Shah in the fortress of
Doulatabad. After four years imprisonment in the year 1112 Hijri (1700
AD) he died in the prison and his palace and the dome of Shah Raju thus
was left incomplete.

In brief, His Holiness Sheikh Mahmoud
was a perfect spiritual guide, connected mystic and was
a Sheikh with perfection and angel- qualities. His
Holiness on the 13th of Shahban in the year 1100 Hijri
(1689 AD) vacated the robe and accelerated towards the
eternal world and in the same mountainous khaneghah
which he had built was buried. The writer of
Meshkat-ul-Nobavat writes that His Holiness Sheikh built
and prepared his own sacred grave and shrine when he was
alive. His
Holiness had few children, whom the eldest and the
senior of them was Sheikh Sham-e-din famed as Shams-e-Moula
who was appointed as his successor and vicegerent and
handed over the seat of guidance to him. May Allah be
merciful to him, with extensive mercy.